I've learned that the traditional rule for pasta is about 100 calories an ounce. Dry. On my bag of egg noodles that I plan on having for lunch tomorrow it says 220 calories in one cup dry. But then fitday says 145 calories for one cup dry.

I go with the package: egg noodles are a bit more caloric than dry pasta, due to the extra eggy goodness. More than worth those few piddley cals, though.

__________________
Jen

The things I believe:

Cal in < Cal out = weight loss
All foods can fit into a healthy diet, some just need to be in smaller portions.
Variety is the spice of life: eat a new dish, play a new game, or go to a new place every week.

Sometimes I wonder, too, how accurate calories are on packages of food.

From what I can tell, the food databases that use the USDA numbers (nutrition data, calorie king, etc.) all have the same value of 146 calories per cup of egg noodles (uncooked). You would think that it would be in the interests of the noodle manufacturer to show the lower amount, but maybe these are 'extra eggy' noodles or something!

I just accept that all my calorie counting is AT BEST an estimate for what I'm actually consuming. I have a foodscale and measure pasta by the ounce. I try to eat 2 oz and just count it as 200 calories. I trust packaging more than Fitday. If I have packaging, I enter the custom food (my custom food list is loooong).

I always trust the package over any other online resources. I figure the manufacturer knows what they put into the product, so they are the best source for nutritional info. I only use the online resources for things like fruits and veggies that don't come with nutritional info. I also have a really long list of custom foods, and it is getting longer all the time.

I do wonder sometimes, though. I could swear that Trader Joe's changed the calories on their fat-free English muffins from 130 to 110 per muffin. I'm pretty sure I'm right on this, because I have a custom food entry set up for the muffins at 130 calories (and I would have been looking at the package when I set it up) but now the label says 110 calories. I suppose it is only 20 calories and at least they went in the right direction, so I should stop obsessing about it. But I keep thinking that if they could be wrong about the English muffins, what else might they be wrong about? They have a couple of salads where the calories seem to good to be true.

I do refigure the nutritional info for any recipes I make, though, even if nutritional is provided with the recipe.

I finally gave in and bought a food scale so that my calorie/food obsession could be fully realized. It was $5 and worth every penny. Right now I'm not eating a lot of pasta, but when I do, you can be sure I'll weigh it! It sure beats counting out each strand of spaghetti, which is what I did before I had the food scale.

I do wonder sometimes, though. I could swear that Trader Joe's changed the calories on their fat-free English muffins from 130 to 110 per muffin. I'm pretty sure I'm right on this, because I have a custom food entry set up for the muffins at 130 calories (and I would have been looking at the package when I set it up) but now the label says 110 calories.

They are probably selling a slightly smaller muffin for the same price, figuring no one would notice a tiny size difference.

They are probably selling a slightly smaller muffin for the same price, figuring no one would notice a tiny size difference.

That and I've noticed that many products these days are reducing the overall fat (eliminating the trans fat, mostly) in their products. For example, I have a whole database of Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice meals logged into my fitday because I eat them so often. Lately, as I purchase more meals, I'm finding I have to change the nutrition info for things that have been in there untouched for some time now. The calorie counts and fat content are lower in many of their meals.

Unfortunately, though, the taste is lower as well. One of my favorite Lean Cuisines used to be the Chicken Fried Rice bowl. Bought it the other day and noticed, again, I needed to change the info in fitday. It had fewer calories and less fat. It also sucked.